I feel such kinship. I (and my family) was also cursed with a 78 Malibu. Blue and rust. Drove it until the timing belt failed (which was fortunately not long after I got my driver's license). My poor parents bought it new. It died sometime in 95 or 96. Our was even worse, since it had the CA-emissions V6 in it.

1981 Dodge Challenger - Actually, a Mitsubishi product with a torquey 2.6L 4 cylinder and 5-speed manual. An absolute blast to drive, which I did for about 13 years and 200k miles. Mine was blue over black.

I appreciate the effort with the photos, Tom. I was surprised how close a resemblance the Dodge Challenger bears to the Ford Mustang of that year: